Ragtop Man

The wheels in 1:1 (and scale) can be changed out by changing the brake drums, which is to say removing the 8-lug wheels by unbolting the rear drums (with a 5/5 pattern inside the hub) and simply switching out fronts. The Pontiac spindles, axles, backing plates, axle flanges, yadda yadda are all common regardless of wheel selection. Nice to see them in a kit, might put me over the edge to chase another '62. FWIW, in the day, it was not uncommon for racers to have standard rear drums with the slicks in the garage and change them out on race day. Much wider selection of tires and wheel sizes that way. There was only a factory 14" 8-lug steel rim at a set width, which tended to limit tire selection. IMO, this also juices the choices for your Moby bubbletops - have a box of AMT parts including the diamond tuft interior "sittin' in la-la waitin for ya-ya" to knock out a custom '61.

Opened your pic and the second it flashed, I said "perfect" !!!! Really nice job on the kit, it is no picnic but looks awesome as it sits.

Looking for some guidance on the Jada Shelby that I've hoarded for a few years now - this is close to the look I'm going for. Have you done one of those yet?

Fantastic build - where did you source the Magstars? They are just my favorite aftermarket wheel ever for that era Ford passenger cars...

As noted by a few friends in the hobby, Round 2's release schedule has rather nicely mirrored the mid-00's catalog from Missing Link. First came the Gen 1 Mustang FB, then the HT '65 GTO, then the AMT '70 Mach 1 and '64 Chevelle SS (!) all sold out faster than we could pour. Many thanks to Steve G. for cutting steel tools for AMT so that I could re-live the early days of our enterprise, I have only a few buildable rejects in my archive. Note to future casters: save one of everything! Fast forward to 2023, and news of the re-release of Mach Won.... talk about a jolt! There has been a fair amount of speculation of what this would look like built up, so I went digging in the MLRC picture crypt and found these shots. Our resin '70 was a Xerox copy of the annual, needing only the '69-73 of your choice to finish it off. Thus, by the transitive property, this is what it looks like. You will need an interior, a stock shaker hood and scoop which I am assuming will surface in resin fairly soon, or modify some parts from one of the squillion or so '69-70 kits already out there. You will also need a sheet of clear styrene for the windshield, cos' the current kit item has been modified to accept the supercharger inlet; can't speak to the rear louvers, but those should not be a heavy lift, either. Our good friend Tom Mooty knocked this out in about a week prior to the Toledo Show that year, using what IIRC was Testor's French Blue with hand masked blackout. Wheels are MPC '73 kit items, engine looks like MPC as well but can't say for 100% certain. If you have hoarded R2 Polyglas, so much the better, the wide ovals were an option too depending on which supplier and which plant your 1:1 came from. At some point in the future when all my stuff is unpacked, I'll have a Grok-A-Thon to see what newly tooled (since 2005) Mustang/Cougar bits suit the R2 Funny Car release.

One of my retirement projects has been to take on the herculean task of sorting and categorizing out digital pictures (since 2002...) Found this shot that I snagged in '06 or so, when MissingLink released the '70 Mach 1 transkit for the '71-3 AMT "Road Racer" Mustang. There are some other shots of a great build by Tom Mooty of our "Job One" release.

That was the release I had as a kid - bonus Pinto FC included (But not terribly accurate.) There are still some bits floating in storage. The truck was a victim of the Great Shelf Collapse in 1974-5.

I'd be very surprised to learn this cover art issue was not planned for the future. Were I to place a bet... you would see this and the Ford 9000-series Louisville Race Car Hauler in a gift set with a mondo decal sheet. I believe the Mustang was on the original cover art for the Hauler, just not included in the box, which seemed an oversight to me. Later, in the '70s a Pinto F/C (CrazyHorse) was included as a bonus, somewhere I've got a cover from that box stashed away, along with an enormous junk box of truck parts.

If it's not quite right, I'd be glad to be wrong - superb build!!!!

Seems like a natural, given all the early Ford products ('53 - 64 or so) out in the hobby that could be 'mainstreamed' with one. Checked in with two printers, one had it as a maybe, one kinda blew me off. Regardless, thanks for any insight!

This whole thread is what the forums were designed to do. Smart, practical commentary and solutions, this is going to kill when it is all finished. Takes a ton of hot rod knowledge to see what mods are needed, then, execute simply enough to transform the finished product in a way that even an expert would have trouble picking it out. One question tho - in mockup, what adhesive are you using to keep the parts together while you are sketching? I see the tape, but it looks like some parts are attached (headers, for example)

Should have clicked the link - the new box art is outstanding!

Not a fan of that headlight treatment - looks like the deer staring at us from across the road! The rest of the car is sweet, though. Somewhere, I have that oddball Modelhaus body of the low end post coupe with the high line gold accent. Dear old Dad had the '57 Fairlane, which was the Victoria hardtop sans the gold mylar spear, which he thought looked very gaudy. He really liked the 292 and the chassis, both tuned at the local garage (Slayton's Mobil in Deerburn.) But the rust was vicious, by my birthday in 1960 it had already perforated the headlight bucket area and lower fenders.

Both AMT and MPC kits ran in recent memory, so, if I'm looking at the second half 2024-2025 portfolio, would not be at all surprised to see one (unlikely both) resurface. Doubt you would see much in the way of new tooling in the kits, perhaps just some sort of a decal sheet that would line up with current licensing agreements. I recall being impressed with the AMT '74, which I promptly put to the saw to (try) to make a Funny Car body, which was a miserable failure. Had the IMSA bodied '77, but discovered "perfume and gasoline" before it got very far. FWIW, my father had Mustang II company cars, a '74 with authentic runs in the Mach 1 blackout, and a black '77 hatch that was really nice, made better by the gutty V8. That was my first street race, which I won. Shudder to think of learning any of my kids would have been that dumb!

With the demise of the last chromer (at least, for now) this is a big, big win. In MOST cases, I like the sprays more than the vacuum plating, which has looked sort of 'bubblegum machine' in some racks I got back a few years ago.

Nice build - anything you had to fix/alter?

Since no one has answered the question - it struck me when I last spoke to Steve G. that the F85 was in the "queue before the queue" - a known opportunity, but needed logistics sorted out. The FC-modified body was clearly visible in the 'hangar shot' of the kit from the pre-merger days. It's ready to go, assuming some sort of budget to chase the project. Seems like an easy lay-up from here.

Rob Hall - that mockup on the Revell chassis looks great - and I just saw the cutout in the windshield (#sadtrombone) but it is easy enough to sub in a sheet acetate / vinyl window that will look better anyway.

I have a resin set buried in my stash, someplace. I believe they were either from Norm or they were a vintage RnD Unique item. Can't say for sure, they are unplated, but they are the correct style.

Looks awesome. Did you print it yourself, or, did someone print for you? Really nice build, too, that is what those looked like. Even though I grew up in Ford country there was one of these on every corner, or so it seemed. I had a plain 350 4V "S" coupe, pretty ratty but never quit!

Cool build - I think every one of the promos that is not in a box looks just like that. Was missing a body for my Craftsman, stalked Falcon auctions for a few years and dang if they were not all dredged from a sandbox or worse. Sure would be great if the 3D universe could scan some of these fragile bits, they have the market to themselves with Don's tooling retired.

You got everything that this old warhorse of a kit had to offer - and then some. This needs the "68 Coronet" treatment, IMO, but until they do this shows what is still left in the box.

I'd look at one of the Revell '69 kits if you absolutely had to have the rear window louvers - but they were the SHIXXZZNIT in the day. Resin industry will have to come up with an interior. The AMT '69-70 body is wider than any MPC or previous AMT kit, so we wait. (Stay tuned for further developments.) Chassis and engine bits were carried into the '71-73 AMT Mach 1s and the road racers that followed (sorry if that is repeating.) Bad for them, good for this kit. As an alt, the new(er) tool AMT '67 Mustang GT/Shelby GT350 chassis and engine compartment would work but need to measure. The Revell '68 shelf kit made from Bullitt might be a good chassis engine donor. The comparatively HTF Shelby GT diecast would probably have the same bits if you were opposed to Zamac for your build.

I need to make more mistakes like that. Love the build.

The small box '57 is very unusual, would like to see pics when it is convenient.